Without Aldgate

I walk past this church, St. Botolph's Without Aldgate, every time I go from Liverpool Street station over to Whitechapel, where the magazine office is. I decided it was time to take a photo!

As I was posting it up for today's blip, I did a little research. It was originally a medieval church outside the city walls (thus "without" Aldgate). It was rebuilt several times, this one being restored in the 1960s after a fire, and before that it was bombed in WWII - this was originally an 18th century replacement for the original. However, all the interior tombs and memorials were retained from the medieval church. And, one of the burials is one of my direct ancestors!

Sir Edward Darcy who died in 1612 (see his memorial in extra), was one of my 12th great-grandfathers (of which everyone has 8,192...! Yes, that's right. 8192 12th great-grandfathers. and 8192 12th great grandmothers. 16,384 direct ancestors when you go back 14 generations!) His grand-daughter Mary Launce married John Sherman, a prominent Puritan preacher (originally from Dedham in Essex), in the Massachusetts colony.